"Stupid Things That Mean The World" continues in the vein of its predecessor and inexorably retains many hallmarks of the No-Man sound. Whilst the sound is familiar, the first two tracks prominently feature a new instrument in the Yamaha CP-70 piano which I find a little thin and unsurprising. Still, they are good songs.
The third track "The Way You've Always Been" is magical and has a great melody. There seems to be a pattern emerging with Tim's solo albums where we see two conventional rock songs followed by a third more haunting and melodic piece. The title track is unusually upbeat (upbeat for Tim anyway) and features some excellent drumming alongside strings and Tim's hushed vocal. "Know That You Were Loved" isn't really my kind of thing with its acoustic, electric and pedal steel guitar: it's all a bit too "guitar" for me, despite some nice drum programming.
On the B side, "Press Reset" builds from its foundation into a swirling titan complete with an unlikely distorted vocal . "All These Escapes" has some nice percussion in a similar vein to the No-Man "Only Rain" but it lacks the atmosphere and melody of its esteemed relation. Disappointingly the guitar sound comes to the fore again with "Everything You're Not" but a nice Moog style solo punches through to provide a nice diversion. The next track is a rather weird jazz-flute type instrumental which is mercifully short. "Soft William" sees the return of the Yamaha electric grand piano but at least I don't have to listen to too much acoustic guitar again. The album closes out with "At The End of the Holiday" which features the curious couplet "Her Mother’s sleeping on the bench, A precious friend, a saucy wench." This track has the potential to be hypnotic and inspiring, but instead it left me a bit cold. So, this album is not as good as "Abandoned Dancehall Dreams" but highlights such as "The Way You've Always Been" and "Press Reset" remain amongst Tim's best. 3/5
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